Family-Proof Your Home for the Holidays

The time to fix loose handrails, slippery rugs, and obstinate toilets is now, before you have the extended family over for the holidays. Here's our guide of what to check before the houseguests show up. Bad green bean casserole is your problem.

Family-Proof Your Home for the Holidays

Family-Proof Your Home for the Holidays

So your Aunt Wilma and Uncle Bud are coming for Thanksgiving. It's going to be fun—a houseful of family, good food, and lots of laughs. On the other hand, Wilma isn't as spry as she once was—she pulls herself up those steps hanging on that handrail the way a mountaineer ascends an ice-covered peak. Maybe you should do something about that loose handrail before she takes a header.

A houseful of guests is a recipe for joy and a reason to give thanks. It's also a reason to break out your toolbox and tend to the jobs that need doing before friends and family of all ages arrive—so that the holidays come off without a hitch.

The Outside

The Outside

Fix loose bricks, loose slates, or loose lumber in front or side stoops or sidewalks. You're looking at 15 minutes to an hour or so, depending on damage.

If a light on the front of your house has a burned-out bulb, replace it. And if the fixture is shot or questionable, now's the time to replace that. A bulb is a 5-minute job; swapping a fixture takes 15 or 20 minutes, excluding any electrical boondoggles you might find.

Got parking? Your family knows the drill about where and how to park, but other guests may not, so make sure they know before they drive over. Tend to any slippery leaves lying around—they're no big deal for younger family members, but a hazard for older ones. We're talking maybe 15 minutes of work with a leaf blower to take care of the leaves and sticks, plus just 5 to pick up toys, balls and the like.

Loose handrails are a hazard. It might be too big a job to replace, rebuild, or overhaul a handrail inset into a masonry stoop in time for Thanksgiving, as that's an all-day affair. But you can tighten loose lumber with corrosion-proof screws in no more than 15 minutes using a cordless drill.

If the front stoop is a genuine hazard, keep it off limits while directing guests through the garage or a side entrance. And keep younger family members on notice that they might need to hustle outside to help Aunt Wilma.